


Stop Trying To Make The Craic Happen

by reachthetree



Category: Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Genderswap, Mean girls Au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 18:42:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1236979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachthetree/pseuds/reachthetree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis Tomlinson. How do I begin to describe Louis Tomlinson?<br/>Louis Tomlinson is flawless.<br/>I hear her butt is insured for $10.000.<br/>Her favorite movie is Thelma and Louise.<br/>She once met Ellen Page on a plane – and she told her she was pretty.<br/>One time she punched me in the face. It was awesome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop Trying To Make The Craic Happen

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah this is very much based on Mean Girls and contains a bunch of quotes from it, so shout out to Tina Fey for that wonderful movie. (It would have been even better if they were lesbians though. Call me Tina.) I'd also like to state that I know that "the craic" is an actual Irish thing, but I took some liberty with that reality for the sake of this alternate universe. Oh, and we're in America, just so you know. Because Mean Girls. Also Little Mix aren't genderswapped. All girls, yay!
> 
> Big up to [Jess](http://archiveofourown.org/users/istajmaal/pseuds/istajmaal) for helping me make this a bit better! Remaining crappiness is mine and only mine.

Hiiii. My name is Harry Styles, and one year ago I was the new girl at North Shore High School. I know what you’re thinking: great, another story about a high school girl feeling anonymous, how cutting edge. But don’t worry; this isn’t one of those tales. Though it sure started out that way.

I didn’t know anyone at all, and as I walked down the hall for the first time I could feel everyone staring at me. I was suddenly very aware of my face. People were whispering, “who is that” and “ew, why is she wearing army pants.” Maybe they thought I couldn’t hear them. Maybe they didn’t care. My top suddenly felt way too small.

By the time I sat down in my first class I was sweating and holding on to my pencil as if my life depended on it. My mind was racing with incoherent nervous thoughts. Was I ever going to make any friends here?

Just when the bell rang my freedom a girl with poofy hair sitting across the aisle from me leaned toward me and sought eye contact.

“Hey, new kid, I’m Leigh-Anne.”

I swallowed nervously. “I’m Harry. Hi.” I tried to form a smile. Before Leigh-Anne could say anything else, the girl with pink hair sitting behind her spoke to me.

“Is that your natural hair?”

“Um, yes.” The pink-haired girl pointed at my hair and said to Leigh-Anne, “See, these are the kind of curls I want.”

Leigh-Anne smiled at me. “This is Perrie. She’s almost too cute to function.”

Perrie hit her with a book. “Oh, shut up, you big sap! Let’s get out of here.” I didn’t know if I was expected to say anything else, so I didn’t. Apparently Leigh-Anne had decided to be my personal savior, because before they left she said to me: “Find us at lunch, we’ll eat together, okay?” I nodded.

As I put down my tray at their table I was shaking a little. New people. Okay. Deep breath.

In addition to Leigh-Anne and Perrie, who sat next to each other and held hands, there were two other girls as well. They were all really pretty, I thought, and once again I felt very aware of my face. I had a spot on my forehead that I was hoping my fringe covered up.

“Harry, sit down!” Leigh-Anne gestured at the empty chair and I realized I was still standing. The other girls watched me curiously. I sat down and Leigh-Anne turned to me.

“You met Perrie already,” Perrie waved and smiled at me, “this is Jade,” the girl with lush brown hair raised a hand, “and this is Jesy,” the other girl nodded and smiled, “and please call me Leigh”.

“Hi everyone, I’m Harry.”

“Oh, we know, Leigh told us about you”, Jesy said with a cheeky smile. “She didn’t say you were so cute though.” I blushed and Jade turned to Jesy with an upset face.

“Heyyy, you’re making me jealous!”

“Oh, stop it, you know you’re the only one for me.” They giggled, like at a private joke, and Leigh and Perrie rolled their eyes. I wasn’t sure what to think.

“Um, I’m sorry if this is forward, but are you two dating or..?”

Jade laughed. “Nah, we’re not, but most people who meet us ship it. Isn’t that right, Pez?”

Perrie faux-sighed. “You kids today with your shipping and your fan fiction, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

I felt like this was an inside joke, too, and was even more uncomfortable. But then Perrie turned to me. “I’m sorry, we have a jargon between us that sometimes scare people, you’ll get into it soon enough.”

Leigh nodded. “Yeah, we’ll take care of you, don’t worry.” I smiled. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

“Hey girls,” Jesy said. “How about we skip the afternoon classes?”

 

I shouldn’t have been skipping class on my first day, but I seemed to have the opportunity to make friends, and I was in no position to pass up friends. The girls guided me to a spot under a tree and we sat down on the grass overlooking the schoolyard. Perrie started chewing gum, Jesy lighted a cigarette, and Jade took out a bottle of nail polish and started painting her nails.

Leigh turned to me. “So, you were telling us about what music you like?” Before I could pick up the conversation, however, Jade pointed at three girls on the yard with a freshly painted nail.

“Oh my god, look at One Direction!” The girls she pointed at were standing with seemingly confident cocked hips, and they were all wearing what looked like pajama pants.

I was confused. “One Direction? Those girls in, um, pajamas?”

Leigh nodded. “They’re the most popular girls in the whole school. Everyone calls them One Direction because they’re all always going in the same direction.”

Jesy chimed in. “And yes, they’re wearing pajamas. I can’t believe them. No one else would get away with that but they can basically do anything they want and people still adore them. It’s ridiculous.”

Leigh pointed them out to me. “See the girl with black hair? That’s Zayn Malik. Her family is totally rich because her dad invented glow in the dark tattoos.” Zayn blew a bubble with her gum. “And the blonde, that’s Niall Horan. She’s one of the stupidest girls you’ll ever meet.”

Jade nodded. “One time she asked me how to spell boobs.” I watched as the girl in the middle said something to Niall. She had matched her pajama pants, which were hanging perfectly from her hips, with a tight top in a matching purple shade. Even as far away as we were sitting I could make out abs through the fabric.

I nodded in her direction. “And who’s that?”

All the girls sighed and Leigh shook her head. “Louis Tomlinson. How do I begin to describe Louis Tomlinson?”

“She’s the queen bee,” Jesy said. “Those other two are just her little workers.”

Perrie nodded. “She’s apparently dating the captain of the football team, Stan Lucas.”

Jade shook her head. “Didn’t you hear? They broke up last weekend.”

Jesy made a clicking sound with her tongue. “Well, well, isn’t that interesting.”

My head was spinning with all this information. I was still trying to process what they’d told me about themselves at lunch. All I could remember right now was that Perrie and Leigh were dating, which I’d already concluded, and that Jesy really liked to draw. Now this One Direction business. There’s always a hierarchy at schools, but I’d never heard of one with an established name before. I stole another glance at them. Louis was applying lip-gloss and seemed to be looking our way, so I quickly turned my head. In the corner of my eye I saw her flicking her caramel hair.

 

The rest of my first week I continued to be guided by Leigh, Perrie, Jade and Jesy. I learned that they were somewhere in the lower half of the social hierarchy – not as low as the geeks, but definitely below the girls trying to walk in the same direction as One Direction. They had taken to call their friends group Little Mix, because they consisted of mixed ethnicities and sexualities. Jesy said, “If One Direction can have a name for their clique then so can we,” and that was that. That Friday they took me shopping and while we sat in the food court at the mall having ice cream we spotted One Direction.

Leigh pointed at them. “Look! Louis Tomlinson in her natural habitat.” Louis was coming down the escalators from the second floor with several shopping bags on her arms, and Zayn and Niall behind her like bodyguards. The latter two seemed to be arguing but all I could make out was Zayn shouting, “don’t ever claim Gucci as you!” Louis rolled her eyes. As they walked away from us I couldn’t help but notice the shape of her ass under her skirt. The girls in One Direction were all very pretty, but I thought I saw why Louis was the queen.

 

The Monday after I was heading to eat lunch with the Little Mix girls as usual when I passed One Direction’s table and Louis addressed me.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Why don’t I know you?” She looked at me with the widest smile I’d ever seen. Like it was completely natural for her to talk to me. Niall and Zayn looked at her with shock on their faces.

I gulped. “Um, I’m new, I just moved here.”

Louis ignored Niall and Zayn. “What’s your name?”

“Uh, it’s Harry, but I–“

“Have a seat, Harry.” She gestured to the seat opposite her and looked so sternly at me I didn’t dare disobey. I looked over at Little Mix, just a few tables away, but they didn’t see me. I’d have to explain later. I sat down.

“I’m Louis, and this is Zayn and Niall.” I nodded and tried to act like I didn’t already know that. “I love your sweater! Where did you get it?”

I pulled at the hem of my purple sweater. “It was my sister Gemma’s, so I don’t really know…”

Louis smiled. “Vintage, cool. It’s _so_ adorable.”

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding in. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, that sweater is the craic,” Niall said.

Louis frowned. “What’s the craic?”

Niall squirmed under her gaze. “It’s like, slang. From Ireland.”

Louis shrugged. “Whatever. Listen, Harry, would you like to have lunch with us for the rest of the week?”

I was speechless. I was worried that I wouldn’t have any friends and now the most popular clique at the school wanted to include me? Was this a joke? Louis’ blue eyes seemed to penetrate my very soul and I couldn’t say no.

“Sure, that’s really sweet of you.” Louis smiled that wide smile again and got crinkles by her eyes. Zayn and Niall looked surprised but didn’t question Louis. Zayn looked at me like she tried to size me up. Niall just beamed at me. “On Wednesdays we wear pink,” she said.

 

“Oh my God,” Jesy said. “You have to do it and then tell us everything stupid they say!” The other girls nodded. I was unsure.

“Why don’t you guys like her anyway? She seemed really nice to me.”

“Nice?” Perrie burst out. “She’s not nice, she’s a life-ruiner. She ruins people’s lives!”

Leigh stroked Perrie’s arm and explained. “Louis spread this rumor that Perrie was a homophobe.”

My jaw dropped. “That doesn’t even make any sense?”

Perrie sighed. “I know. But her power is so great; half the people in this school think I’m only pretending to be with Leigh to prove them wrong. It’s ridiculous.” I shook my head, party because it sounded so unbelievable, but also because after meeting Louis it sort of didn’t.

 

A few days later I was in the hall having a chat with Perrie before lunch when I saw Louis approaching and nervously gestured to Perrie to leave.

Louis looked puzzled. “Why were you talking to Perrie?”

I tried to look cool as I could feel the sweat on my forehead making my hair curl even more than usual. “I don’t know, she’s so weird, she just came up to me and started talking about gay sex.”

Louis laughed. “Did you know we used to be friends? I know, so embarrassing. Anyway, when I started to get close with Zayn, she was like, weirdly jealous of her. She asked me if we were dating and acted like if that was the worst thing in the world. And right after that I turned fourteen and was gonna have a party, and I was like, Perrie, I can’t invite you because I think you’re a homophobe. And then her mom called my mom and yelled. It was so silly. And now she pretends to have a girlfriend.” Louis huffed. I was in shock and couldn’t get out a single word. I just gaped at her. “I know, right? I gotta go, see you at lunch babe.” And she blew me a kiss with her glossy lips and walked away.

I spun around and looked for Perrie.

“Pez,” I whispered, and she appeared from behind a locker.

“Did she suspect anything?”

“I don’t think so. Why didn’t you tell me that you guys used to be friends?”

Perrie looked down. “Well, it’s kind of embarrassing, isn’t it?”

“You tell me. This double life is already very strange, let me tell you.”

“Fine, I’m sorry. The thing was, we were like best friends, and I had the biggest crush on her, and then Zayn came along and replaced me. On top of that she spread this rumor, so she clearly had no idea whatsoever how I felt about her.”

I needed a moment.

“Wow, Perrie, that made this even more shitty of her. I’m sorry.”

Perrie shrugged. “I’m obviously over her, so it’s not that big of a deal any more. But a little revenge still feels good, you know?”

I nodded. “I feel you.”

I didn’t know what else to say, but Perrie just locked arms with me, started walking and offered to buy me a soda for my troubles. I accepted, and things started to feel a little less intense. But as we walked down the hall together, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to me if Louis saw us.

Being in One Direction was like being famous. People just knew stuff about you. I’d wear a t-shirt with a band logo and the next day someone would come up to me and ask what my favorite song by them were. This didn’t affect Louis – the way she moved and talked just let you know that she expected to be worshipped. Zayn and Niall tried to keep up with her cool but I could tell they were flattered by the popularity. As for me, I found myself looking for Louis’ approval as much as the One Direction wannabes. Maybe even more. When she liked something you did it felt like you’d gotten a big present with a sparkly bow on it. I just wanted to please her. Zayn was cool most of the time but it was clear that she was aware of the fact that she’d be next to nothing without Louis. Niall was either too smart or too unintelligent to be nervous most of the time, the way I saw it, but when Louis snapped at her she’d look like a hurt and confused puppy.

One October afternoon I was with them at the mall shopping for knitted sweaters. “Knitted sweaters are an important part of every fall, but you just can’t wear one from last season,” Louis said. And we all lived by the gospel of Louis. I was browsing a stack of sweaters in different colors, pondering whether to get an orange one or a plainer color, like grey, when I felt like someone was watching me and looked up. Louis was looking at me with a strange expression I couldn’t read. When she realized I had noticed she spun around and walked away. And if I looked at her ass, well, it might have been just to admire her perfectly fitted skinny jeans.

I ended up getting the orange sweater because the gospel of Louis said that no one remembers a plain person. Louis got a pink one, Zayn got navy blue, and Niall bright green. We were sitting in the food court eating ice cream, much like I had done with Little Mix just a few weeks before (except totally different), when I felt watched again. I stopped licking the side of my ice cream and my eyes met Louis’. She smiled at me, asked if my ice cream was good, and flipped her hair like she always did. And if I noticed how soft it looked, well, it might have been just to make a mental note to ask her what shampoo she used.

“Look, there’s Stan Lucas,” Zayn said and pointed to a tall boy walking into the Nike store. Louis’ ex. I couldn’t see much of him, but he walked like he belonged.

Louis looked annoyed. “Why would you point that out? He’s my ex, Zayn, in case you forgot.” But before Zayn could defend herself Niall spoke.

“Why did you break up, anyway?”

Louis rolled her eyes. “If you must know, I got bored. It’s time for me to embrace being single.” And she flashed a smile like it wasn’t a big deal, but the look in her eyes told us that this conversation was over. I turned my attention to the ice cream. It had started to melt.

 

“Listen,” I said firmly. “You guys have to come up with some sort of actual plan for your eight-grade revenge soon or I’ll have to stop this double life.” The Little Mix girls looked at me and sighed almost in unison.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Perrie said. “I’m just conflicted. I want to hurt her, but not too much, you know?”

Leigh looked fondly at her. “You’re such a good person.”

Jesy cringed. “Oh my god you two, stop it.” Jade rolled her eyes. I couldn’t even come up with the energy to do that.

Perrie looked pleadingly at me. “Could you just please keep it up for a bit longer? Isn’t it a little fun for you, too?” I don’t know why I agreed, but I did.

“Fine, I will, let’s not talk any more about this right now. Are you all coming over to my house tonight as planned?” The girls smiled and nodded and I felt a little relief. It seemed to come at a price, but at least I had friends.

 

I had trouble keeping up with One Direction. The fashion alone was enough to make you dizzy, and at the same time I had to spend time with my actual friends in Little Mix. Come November I was deep in my double life and the way out seemed to not even exist any more. I passed on information about One Direction and we all had a laugh, but I always felt uneasy about it. In my mind’s eye I could see Louis giving me her soul penetrating stare and shaking her head. Maybe she was a bad person, but we were still friends. So when all of One Direction cornered me against my locker one day, I was alarmed.

“We have to talk to you about something,” Louis said. Oh no! They had discovered my secret. Should I start apologizing? No, I took a breath and tried to calm myself.

“What about?”

Louis smirked. “As you may know, the Christmas talent show is coming up. We always dance to Single Ladies, and since you’re one of us now, you have to be in it too.”

I could actually feel my shoulders dropping as my body relaxed. “Oh, okay, sure.” Then I recalled the Single Ladies dance. “But wait, aren’t there only three dancers in it? And it’s really difficult! I can’t dance!” I started tensing up again but Louis just chuckled.

“Calm your tits, I’m sure you’re fine. We’ve eased it up a bit. Come to my house to practice after school today!” And they all sashayed away before I could say another word. I stood with my mouth still open in shock when they turned the corner and Zayn looked back at me with an intense stare. Oh dear. What had I gotten myself into?

The dancing was as bad as I had feared. I had grown a lot taller really fast and wasn’t used to how long my legs were, and I didn’t know exactly where my butt stopped and the rest of the world started. It didn’t exactly help that Louis had decided I was going to dance at the front with her like we were both Beyoncé. I lost track of the number of times I accidentally slapped her face instead of my own ass. Thankfully I didn’t have a lot of force in my moves, so no queen bees were harmed during dance practice.

When she called me to come to her house alone one afternoon in December, I thought it was to practice. But when she opened the door she wasn’t in her leotard. She was wearing a tight skirt that showed off most of her thighs and only thin pantyhose that must have been freezing. Her t-shirt was loose but I could still see the shape of her boobs through it. Not that I was looking at my platonic fake friend’s boobs or anything.  
  
She had made us tea and as I tried not to spill any on the walk up the stairs to her room I wondered what this was about. Maybe this time she really had me figured out and was going to bust me on my two-timing friendships. At this point I didn’t even know which group were my real friends, if any.  
Louis sat down on her bed. I looked around for options, but there weren’t any, so I sat down on the floor. She laughed and patted the bed beside her. “Don’t sit on the floor, silly.”

I spilled some tea as I climbed onto her bed and started blushing and apologizing, but she hushed me and I obeyed. We were sat across from each other, legs crossed, and I didn’t know where to look but when she formed her pink lips in a perfect circle to blow on her tea my eyes were drawn to it. She didn’t have the plumpest lips but they were shaped perfectly. I swallowed. Best get the execution over with.

“So, um, what’s this about?”

Louis looked up at me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I thought you invited me over for dance practice.”

This she just laughed at. “Oh honey, no, I just wanted to hang. Why, didn’t you want to?” And she looked sternly at me.

“No, no, I want to, I really want to, but we usually always hang all four of us. I didn’t know what to think is all.”

Louis took a sip of her tea. “Well, don’t think anything of it. But maybe don’t tell the others? I don’t want any drama.”

Then why do you create it? I thought, but I smiled and nodded. “Sure. It will be our little secret.”

Louis smiled big at me and did her famous hair flip. “Good. Now, let’s talk about that hair of yours.”

An hour later I was completely relaxed. Hanging alone with Louis was different from being part of One Direction. Without her disciples, she was… softer. Her face had this look I hadn’t seen on it before. It was just a feeling, but it seemed like she let down her guard a bit. She laughed at my jokes as if we were equal and actually asked my opinion on stuff. Normally she phrased that kind of question to let you know what she wanted to hear. This other Louis was really nice. Time just flew. We were trying on clothes, and at one point I was in the hallway outside her room changing into a particularly tight red dress. When I walked back into the room I was very aware of her eyes on my body. I didn’t look at her and went straight to the mirror and just stared at myself. As I contemplated how much smaller my boobs were than hers, she came and stood behind me, looking over my shoulder at my reflection in the mirror.

“You look beautiful,” she said in a low voice. I could feel her boobs against my back. I couldn’t breathe.

“I think it would go with your hair like… this.” And she lifted my hair from my shoulders and swirled it into a bun on top of my head. She smelled like vanilla and cinnamon.

“What do you think?” She whispered into my ear, and my heart was beating out of my ears.

“I… It’s late, I have to go.” She let my hair down, stepped away, and was her usual smiley self. I changed in the hall and she walked me to the door in silence. Then, as we said goodbye, she placed a kiss on my cheek. I could feel the moisture of her lip-gloss. Completely dazed I stared at her as I felt my cheeks reddening.  
She just winked at me. “Our little secret,” she said and closed the door.

The next day Louis was her usual One Direction self and I played along with a weird feeling in my gut. Little Mix told me I shouldn’t worry about it, but I felt bad for hiding something from Zayn and Niall. Louis clearly didn’t tell me everything and maybe she had a reason for excluding them. Maybe they were falling out and a new jealousy drama was about to take place? I didn’t want to be the reason a friendship ended but I didn’t exactly know what to do. The Christmas talent show was rapidly getting closer and my dancing was not improving so I had enough to worry about without adding another drama to my spy-like existence.

 

The day of the show I was backstage in my leotard, putting on lipstick, when I saw in the corner of my eye that Louis went to the bathroom. I didn’t know where Niall was, and before I could stop myself I turned to look at Zayn.

“Listen, is everything okay between you and Louis?”

She made eye contact with me in the mirror and kept styling her hair. ”I think so. Maybe she feels weird around me because I’m the only one who knows that she’s gay. Oops! Don’t tell her I said that.” Her hands dropped and she turned to stare directly at me. “Promise?”

I had already been nervous but now I literally felt like I was going to puke. My voice was unsteady when I replied. “I promise.”

Before I had a chance to gather myself Louis and Niall appeared out of nowhere and it was our turn and I had yet another secret to keep and my whole body was covered in cold sweat that I was sure was visible on my leotard and how did my life become this mess? I was shaking in my heels as we walked on stage in complete silence. We got in our positions and then the familiar intro started. I could feel my body moving to the music but my mind was completely blank. It was like a miracle; for the first time we moved completely in sync, and once when we turned around I caught a glimpse of Louis’ face and she looked right at me and smiled. It felt like time stopped as I noticed a little drop of sweat in the curve over her upper lip. Then she turned away, time raced again and we faux-slapped at our leotard-clad butts. And as fast as it had started it was over.

We hurried off the stage to the sound of the whole school applauding us. I felt giddy. I did it! I survived. I was a survivor, I wasn’t gonna give up, as Beyoncé would have said. When we got to the back I smiled at the other girls and expected a group hug. But Louis was frowning.

“Zayn, what was that? You totally slacked.” I was confused. I hadn’t noticed that.

Zayn shrugged. “Well, we were suddenly four, maybe I was thrown by the change in dynamic.” And she licked her lips and raised her eyebrows in my direction.

Louis huffed. “Nonsense. We have been practicing for over a month. You did it on purpose.” Then her expression softened and she faced me. “You were good, though, Harry.”

Niall looked relieved that the irritation seemed to be over. “Yeah, Harry, you were the craic.”

“Niall, stop trying to make the craic happen, it is _not_ going to happen”, Louis snapped. Then she took my hand and dragged me away.

“Where are we going?” I panted and tried to look over my shoulder but Louis dragged me on very fiercely.

“We’re having an after party”, she said.

What? “After party? But it’s three in the afternoon?”

“So what?”

I didn’t know what else to say. I just followed her, our hands still clasped together. Our sweat merged into a mess between them but Louis didn’t let go.  
Louis bowed down to get something from a cabinet and it was impossible not to look at her ass. The leotard and net stockings definitely agreed with it. It was like a planet, she was like the sun everyone revolved around, and I was about four galaxies out of my league. We were in her house and it echoed empty. Oh my God, I thought as she emerged from the cabinet with a bottle of vodka and a mischievous grin. “Let’s party.”

So I was about to drink alcohol for the first time. With an impossibly gorgeous girl. The most popular girl in school. At three in the afternoon. While her parents were at work.

I mustered a weak smile. “Yay..!”

Louis swayed to the kitchen and poured vodka in glasses while humming a song I didn’t recognize. She proceeded to fill them up with coke. She handed me one, then grabbed the vodka and coke bottles between her fingers in one hand and her own drink with the other.  
“Up we go.” She nodded toward the stairs. Apparently we were going to do this sitting on her bed again. Oh dear. I led the way and tried not to think about how the leotard barely covered my ass.

Louis started up her computer to put on a playlist and I sat down on her bed. Slowly I took my first sip and cringed. It tasted like… Well, alcohol. I looked down into the glass and realized sitting cross-legged revealed very much a lot of my crotch. I grabbed a pillow and put it between my legs. Then I took another sip and cringed again. Another one. Louis sat down opposite me and raised her glass.

“Cheers,” she said. “To all the single ladies.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “To all the single ladies.” And we clinked glasses.

By the time I had emptied my first glass it didn’t taste so bad any more. I had a warm feeling in my stomach and everything felt fuzzy and happy. Louis’ cheeks were a little pink and she sang along loudly to the music as she refilled our glasses.

I giggled. “You really should stick to dancing.” I don’t know why I said it because she had the loveliest soft, sort of raspy voice.

She knew I was full of shit, of course, so she just flipped her hair and laughed. “Whatever, Styles. Cheers!” And we clinked again. I drank with my eyes open and through the glass I looked right at Louis’ crotch. Was she wearing underwear? I closed my eyes. Oh my God. Get it together, Harry. When I opened them again Louis was looking curiously at me.

“Are you okay?”

She had her soft face again and I felt weak. This was made for disaster. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m great, even.” She smiled at me and I felt so at ease I decided I’d dare ask the question. “But can I ask you why we ditched Zayn and Niall? Did something happen between the three of you?”

Louis sighed. “Okay, I guess now is a good a time as any to do this…” She took a large gulp from her drink. “You’re different from the rest of us,” she began. “You don’t play games. Don’t think I don’t know that Zayn and Niall are talking about me behind my back. But you’d never do that.” Except I’d done that from day one. I swallowed hard. “So I guess… I’m tired of them. I just wanna… be with you.” She looked me in the eyes, almost shyly.

I forced a smile and took a swig from my drink. “Uh, okay, yeah. I wanna… I like hanging out with you too.”

Louis smirked. “Put down your drink.” My hands trembled as I obeyed. When I sat up again she had removed the pillow I had used to cover up my crotch. Was she going to..?

“Come here.” Okay, so this was happening. I couldn’t feel my hands.

Then she kissed me. It was sticky and sweet from soda and lip-gloss, it was hot and wet and a little sloppy. It was everything I’d thought it would be. But just when I thought I’d identified exactly what part of the taste was just Louis, she pulled away.

I panicked. “What? Did I do something wrong?”

She laughed and rested her forehead against mine. “No, I just… Was that okay?”

“Oh. Yes, it was more than okay.”

“Good,” she whispered and pulled me in again. Louis. Her hair was as soft as I’d imagined. Her tongue was so soft against mine, like she was a kitten and I a bowl of milk. I let myself sink into the kiss, nothing existed except the kissing, the whole world was in our mouths. Then she kissed me so hard and with such urgency I actually whimpered.

“Do you want to do this?” she whispered in my ear. I wasn’t entirely sure what “this” entailed, but I was definitely sure I wanted to do it. I nodded. Louis smiled.  
She pushed me gently onto my back and my head landed right on a pillow like it was a goddamn movie. In the back of my mind I registered that the party playlist was still on but most of my attention was on Louis. She was still sitting up and just… Looking at me. Then she softly caressed my stomach. I inhaled sharply and could no longer hear any music, just my own pulse pounding in my ears. And then: her mouth on mine again. Her soft breasts pressed against my own. She slid one of her legs between mine, and our fishnet stockings caused some friction. Louis giggled into my mouth. I didn’t. I just spread my legs a little and ground softly against her thigh. She stopped giggling.

I didn’t know if I was feeling so warm and dizzy because of the alcohol or the situation. Everything seemed unreal, like it was happening to someone else. I felt like a spectator when Louis grabbed my leotard and pulled it down to my waist. I heard myself moan when she licked my nipples. I saw my hand reach out to undress her, too. Her skin was golden and soft. I tasted her collarbones, her hands, the inside of her thighs. She tasted like vanilla and cinnamon and Louis. That was the last thing my brain registered before everything was all her skin against mine, her tongue on me, her fingers in me, until I had to hold onto the sheets to keep from floating away.

 

After, when we were both content, I decided it was the time to be a little serious. Louis had her soft face on and looked so beautiful. God, I hoped she wouldn’t hate me. I took a deep breath.

“So,” I said as I lightly grazed her stomach with my fingers. “Tell me what really happened with the Zayn and Perrie drama?”

“What do you mean?”

“Was there something going on with you and Zayn?”

“We used to watch reruns of Friends before my mom came come from work… and get each other off during commercial breaks.” Louis snickered.

“So why did you spread that rumor?”

She went serious again. “I don’t know… I guess I was sad that we weren’t as close any more and wanted her to hurt too. But I admit it went a bit out of hand.” She paused and bit her lip. “And I still don’t get why she reacted like that.”

“Are you serious right now?”

“What?”

“You’re telling me that the great Louis Tomlinson, she who wraps people around her finger on a daily basis, doesn’t recognize the human behavior of jealousy?”

Louis jerked out of my arms. “What?!”

I tilted my head and gave a half smile. “Isn’t it obvious? She had a crush on you.” Louis shook her head.

I shrugged. “You don’t have to believe it. That’s just what I think.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t really matter. Do you want toast and nutella?” She kissed my shoulder and looked up with a smile, and just like that everything was fine.

For the time being.

 

Have you ever done a walk of shame? Have you ever stumbled out in an unfamiliar neighborhood, head throbbing and mouth dry? Have you ever had to use Google maps to find a bus stop? Have you ever noticed people looking at your night before-outfit and tousled hair and tried to look unbothered? Have you ever sat on a bus and tried to ignore the sticky feeling of dried sweat and other fluids between your legs?

I haven’t. Louis asked me to stay the night, we watched Thelma & Louise, and the next day she lent me clothes to wear to school. It was weirdly intimate to brush my teeth next to her. She caught me looking at her in the mirror and stuck out her tongue at me and I laughed away the tension. Maybe I would survive after all.

Only, how would I do that? As Louis’ mom drove us to school I reviewed my situation. I had a) become friends with Little Mix, b) started hanging out with One Direction as a spy, c) hung out secretly with Louis behind the backs of both groups, d) had sex with Louis that was most certainly also a secret, and e) possibly fallen in love with her. My stomach felt weird. I really didn’t want to throw up in the backseat of the Tomlinson’s car. Louis was tapping her fingers against her thigh to a tune on the radio as if everything was fine. Her thigh, that I had… No, not the time for that. What was I supposed to do? Much too soon the ride was over and I mumbled thanks with a dry throat and stumbled out of the car. Possibly to the end of my life as I knew it. Louis seemed completely oblivious to all this, but oh, that’s right, that was because she didn’t know that I too was a false, game-playing, back-stabbing, horrible person. She waved her mom goodbye and I felt my stomach turning. Oh dear. In just a second I made a decision.

“Uhm, Louis?”

“What, babe?”

She beamed at me and I felt like an absolute idiot. “I don’t feel so good… I think I’m going to go home. I’ll get your clothes to you as soon as I can, okay?”

Louis looked displeased, almost… Disappointed? “Sure. See you later, then.”

She walked away and I was alone with my conscience.

When I got home I made myself some tea and then went straight to bed to stare at the ceiling. I was just buying myself some time before I had to deal with all this mess. What the fuck was I going to do? Leigh had texted me the day before but I hadn’t replied. Now I got a text from Perrie asking if I was alive. My stomach clenched at their thoughtfulness but I didn’t reply to that either. When my mom came home from work I lied and said I’d been to school. It was a quiet dinner. When it was over my phone buzzed again and I looked at it in fear. It was Louis, asking if I felt better. No, everything’s all wrong, I thought. “Yeah, I just had a headache, I’ll see you in school tomorrow xx”, I texted her. I went to bed that night fearing what the next day would bring. I didn’t know what to do at all.

The next day when I walked down the hall I felt the anxiety of the first day all over again. I felt like people were looking at me. I started sweating and rushed into a bathroom to hide in a stall. It wasn’t a great moment. On the wall someone had written “DON’T HAVE PENIS-IN-VAGINA SEX, BECAUSE YOU WILL GET PREGNANT AND DIE”. Wasn’t that ironic. Pregnancy was the least of my problems but I felt like I could die nonetheless. While I pondered my death by lesbian sex I heard people come into the bathroom. Wasn’t that voice..? Yes, it was.

“Have you heard from her at all?” Jesy asked. I heard a click I knew belonged to Perrie’s favorite lipstick.

“No, she hasn’t answered any of our texts.”

“That’s weird.”

Ok, I couldn’t just sit and listen to this any more. I gathered what strength I had and opened the door. “Hi, guys.”

Perrie, Leigh and Jesy spun around all at the same time. “Harry!”

Leigh leapt forward to hug me. “Thank god you’re alright, we were worried.” Embarrassed by her kindness I sunk into the hug. Her hair tickled my chin and I felt like I could cry.

Then she let go of me and gave me a firm look. “So why didn’t you answer our texts?”

I shifted my weight. “Uh, I was… Busy.”

They all looked confused. “Busy doing what?”

I knew I had to come clean, but god, I felt so dirty doing it. “Um, basically, after the show, Louis took me back to hers, and…” I tried to moisten my mouth, that had gone very dry, but Jesy didn’t waste time waiting for my patheticness. “And?” She did not look happy.

I swallowed. “And we hooked up. Sort of. I mean, not sort of, we did. We had sex. That’s what happened. I’m so sorry.”

For a moment it was so silent I could hear my heart beating. I looked down at the floor and awaited my judgment. The next thing I knew the door slammed and I looked up. I was alone.

When my first class started I was still sitting in my stall. I wasn’t crying. I just had something in my eye. I can see how you would think that I was crying, but I really wasn’t. I’m just allergic to… toilet seat covers. It’s a pain when I’m travelling, really. Not crying. Where the fuck do you get your information? No I didn’t fucking cry. I was definitely not wiping tears from my cheeks when my phone buzzed with a text from Louis who wanted to know where I was. “Overslept! See you at lunch lol”, I replied. I didn’t want to keep lying but I didn’t have the energy to lose her too. Not right now. Not yet.

When Louis and I got to One Direction’s usual lunch table Zayn and Niall were already there. But when Louis grabbed a chair to sit down, Zayn stopped her. “You can’t sit with us!”

Louis cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Zayn leaned over the table and lowered her voice. “I know your secret.”

Louis went a little pink but kept her cool. “What are you saying about?”

Zayn just nodded her head in my direction. “I think you know what I mean.” She leaned back again and crossed her arms. “Leave now, please.”

Louis flipped her hair. “Fine. You can walk home, losers.” And she took my hand and walked away. People looked at us and whispered, but I sensed now was not the time to point that out to Louis.

She dragged me into the bathroom where I had been crying just a few hours ago and without a word started kissing me. Her sweater itched a little against my neck as she pushed me against the wall. Her face was so close to mine I couldn’t look her in the eyes without getting dizzy. I closed my eyes and bit my lip, tasting the synthetic sweetness of my lipstick. Then I felt the warmth of her breath coming closer and my lips parted automatically. I sighed into the kiss. It never ceased to amaze me how she could go from the icy exterior she put on in a crowd to being incredibly gentle with me in just a few seconds.

“So,” Louis said. “Looks like it’s just you and me now.” And that reality instantly made my good kiss feelings disappear. It really was just us. Her and me and my stinking lies. I felt my stomach sink and decided then and there that if I was going to lose Louis I might as well do it now. Okay. Deep breath.

“Louis, I need to tell you something.”

She took a step back. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Um… I was friends with Little Mix. Like, good friends. They wanted me to hang out with you and tell them stuff. Which I did.”

Her smile faltered. “Oh.”

“But I messed up, because I shouldn’t have liked you guys, supposedly you’re the worst, what with the only going in one direction and all that, but I really liked you, and then I was double-crossing both of you, and I’m so sorry, please don’t hate me.” I exhaled and shivered. Okay, time to get left alone in the bathroom for the second time that day.

Louis grabbed my chin and forced me to look her in the eye. I swallowed hard and looked her in the eyes. She didn’t look angry.

“I don’t hate you.” And she brushed her thumb against my face. She sighed. “Can I ask you why, though?”

I squirmed out of her grip and looked down again. “I just wanted to have some friends. It seemed like the only way.”

“You really need to think higher of yourself, Harry, if you think people will only be friends with you if you do stuff for them.”

I hesitated to, but smiled at her. “So you don’t hate me?”

She pulled me in and hugged me. “No. I know that game, remember?”

I buried my face in her shoulder. “Right,” I mumbled into the yarn.

So it was Louis and me.

The following months were weird but wonderful. Louis and I would skip school and bake muffins, which meant Louis playing with the batter until we were both sugary messes and had to lick each other clean. When we did go to school we would hold hands in the hallway and pretend not to notice that people talked. If Zayn and Niall saw us they would lock arms and give us their best death glare. It wasn’t a lot of fun, but being naked with Louis on a regular basis made it worth it. Insert smug emoji here.

Normally we would wait to eat lunch until almost everyone had left the cafeteria, but for some reason there was a day when we couldn’t. We chose a table close to the door and far from One Direction. (Louis huffed, “I can’t believe they still call them that, as if they have a direction to go in without me to follow? Fuck that, ha!”) Everything went well until we were done and went to leave our trays. That’s when it happened.

Louis walked a bit in front of me, so I couldn’t warn her when I saw Zayn coming at her. I could just watch when Zayn “accidentally” jammed her tray, with food still on it, in Louis’ back. As if in slow motion, I saw Louis turn around. She looked over her shoulder and saw mashed potatoes and gravy all in her hair. When she turned to Zayn there was war in her eyes.

Zayn just smiled. “Oops!”

Louis shook her head. “Don’t ‘oops’ me, loser.” The whole cafeteria was holding their breaths. Everyone saw Louis empty her leftovers over Zayn’s head.

Zayn gasped. “This is a Gucci blouse!” Sauce was dripping down her torso and her hair had lost its glamorous volume. Louis smirked, tilted her head, and with one smooth hand-motion she removed the potatoes from her hair. Then she flipped it. And everyone started cheering.

This changed things. People started sucking up to Louis again. They would follow us around and try to talk to us and Louis would wave them away and say, “Sorry, love, but I don’t really care”. Which for some reason made some people even more eager to please her. I saw a girl wearing a “Louisville” snapback and winking at Louis. All this was pretty laughable to me. They didn’t know about the real Louis. Poor them.

What everyone knew, however, was that the Spring Fling was approaching and that meant crowning a queen. Louis was usually the obvious one, but this year everyone had thought it would be Zayn until the food fight happened. Now Louis was back on people’s do-I-want-to-fuck-her-or-be-her lists. Well, not everyone’s.

We were in class, trying to enjoy a discussion about the Greek tragedy Medea, when the speaker system started blaring. “The nominees for spring fling queen are…” People immediately sat up straight, as if that would improve their hearing. “Zayn Malik!” Cheers. “Louis Tomlinson!” Slightly less cheering. “Perrie Edwards!” Confused laughter and scattered applause. “And… Harry Styles!” People cheered and I just… What? Louis was my only friend. Apparently that was enough to be considered for that tiara.

“Do we have to go?” I was on Louis’ bed and she was on her back on the floor.

She sighed. “We’re both nominated, so we sort of have to, yes.”

I groaned. “But is there a rule? Can’t we just not go and Zayn will win and nothing bad will happen?”

She sat up and reached up to pat my shoulder. “Nothing bad is going to happen, sunshine.” After a moment’s pause she added, “And if it does, I can handle it, okay?”

“Fine. But I’m not wearing tulle.”

Louis laughed and it had that magical effect where it made everything seem doable. “Me neither. We’ll look fab, I promise.”

In case you wondered, I decided on a short black dress in velvet that Louis insisted made my hips look “heavenly” and a pink flower crown so as to not look too serious. Louis herself went all in and got a sparkling purple gown. I had to hold the trail for her when we rocked up to the school but of course I dropped part of it, tripped and almost dropped my flower crown.

Louis just laughed. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

I pouted. “Harrumph.”

She stopped and gave me a light kiss, for once careful not to smudge her lipstick. I felt better. Then she put one of my curls in place and flashed her pageant queen smile. “Okay now, let’s rock this thing.”

The gym hall looked like a, well, a gym hall with some decorations and dimmed lights. The DJ was playing early-in-the-night songs and people just stood in groups, swaying awkwardly to the music. When I walked up to the punch bowl I overheard some people talking at the ballot boxes. “I’m voting for Zayn because she shoved that food in Louis’ hair.”

The other person chuckled. “I’m voting for Louis because she did it back.” Oh dear.

I brought the drinks back to Louis and said, “People are voting for both you and Zayn because of the food fight.”

Louis rolled her eyes. “People are stupid.” I nodded and she continued. “It’s just so much more than that, you know?”

I took her hand and squeezed it. “I know.”

We sipped our drinks –so sickeningly sweet they made me shake, but then again that could be nerves–and talked. In our own world, just like usual. Only I was painfully aware that the queen thing was going to happen soon and that made me a tiny bit sick. I didn’t see how anyone winning that would go over well. Louis or Zayn would probably cause another fight, if Perrie won people would probably boo her, and if I won… I didn’t know what I feared if that happened, but I was sure it couldn’t go over well. Whenever I hinted at this to Louis, however, she just got a smug look on her face and said nothing.

By the time the principal took to the stage I couldn’t feel my face. I shut my eyes and held on to Louis as if I’d fall down otherwise. Which I probably would have.

“And the Spring Fling queen is… Louis Tomlinson!”

People started cheering and booing and I started sweating, but Louis just smiled serenely. “Okay, here we go,” she said. “A kiss for luck?”

I kissed her and said, “Good luck.” She looked so pretty walking up the stage, sparkly fabric playing around her body and gracefully holding her trail. I just hoped no one was going to throw stuff at her.

They placed the plastic tiara on her head, and then she… took the mic?

The principal looked nervous. “Louis? You’re not really supposed to make a speech…”

Louis just dismissed him with a wave. “Shh, I got this.”

She swallowed before continuing. “I have something I have to say.” Everyone was silent except some giggles at the back of the room.  
Louis didn’t seem to notice. “Leigh, Perrie, Jesy, Jade. Zayn and Niall. And Harry. Look, I know I’ve done some bad things in the past. But didn’t we all?”

She swallowed. “I just, I think you’re all so amazing, and we could do so much more if we stuck together. I mean, no one is perfect, but we’re all pretty great.”

At this point there was some spread applause. Louis went on with more force in her voice. “Society tells us that girls can only be successful by backstabbing other girls, we start thinking that if we look down on other girls we’ll get the privileges boys have. But if we’d have each other’s backs we’d have it so much easier and more fun. I’d really like to be friends with all of you again. I promise I won’t go behind anyone of your backs again. That’s just like, the rules of feminism.”

The applause was so loud I could barely hear my thoughts.

Louis smiled and waved like the queen she was. “Thank you.”

I could feel my heart fluttering. In spite of what she had just said, I thought Louis actually was perfect. She walked down from the stage with swagger in her step and came right to me. She had the biggest smile on her face. “What did you think?”

I had to kiss her. “I think you are absolutely right!” I was just about to say we should find the girls when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

Leigh-Anne smiled. “I hope we’re not interrupting anything.” Instead of replying I threw my arms around her and hugged her as hard as I could until she said, “Okay, Harry, I’m glad you like me, but I can’t breathe...”

I let go and giggled. “Sorry. Oh, Perrie! I missed you!” I hugged her too, and then Jesy, who got purple lipstick on my shoulder and apologized profusely, but when I got to Jade she was… holding hands with Niall?

“So...?”

Jade blushed. “Uh, yeah, this is a thing now.”

Niall grinned. “It sure is.”

I hugged them both at the same time. “Aw, you guys!”

In the corner of my eye I saw Louis talking to Perrie. They were both smiling, shy and small smiles, but still. Zayn was hugging Jesy and I couldn’t have stopped my happy giggles if I tried. Then Louis and Perrie came and joined the rest of us.

Perrie grabbed Leigh’s hand before addressing us all. “So, who wants to celebrate the sisterhood with some dancing?”

And we danced all night to the best songs ever, sang along to every line, laughed and kissed. When the music stopped we just fell into an exhausted giggly pile on the floor.

“This is the craic,” Niall said through the laughter.

Louis smiled at her. “Yeah, it is.”

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> hiii i'm louisincake on tumblr pls don't be mean to me


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